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NOW Magazine workers face possible lockout by company

TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2016 /CNW/ - NOW Magazine has pushed its workers into a potential lockout situation, says the union representing employees at Toronto's only alt-weekly.

Unifor 87-M, which represents 52 full- and part-time staff at NOW, is distressed that the company has escalated ongoing contract negotiations by requesting a no-board report from the province, which starts the clock on a possible company lockout or union strike.

NOW and the union have been at the bargaining table since December last year. In recent months, though, the company began to try to re-bargain items already settled and added major new concessions, throwing talks into disarray.

"We remain sincerely committed to reaching a deal," said Jonathan Goldsbie, a staff writer at NOW and chair of its bargaining unit. "We firmly believe in the paper, its social justice mission, and its crucial role in the city's landscape."

The union applied for provincial conciliation and voted 86.5 percent in favour of calling a strike if necessary. Shortly after July 19, the conciliator produced a recommended settlement, which the union accepted. The company, however, refused. The union then offered to go to binding arbitration. The company refused and called for a no-board report.

That report comes out today, which will place the company in a legal lockout position and the union in a legal strike position as of Saturday, August 27.

Unifor Local 87-M represents about 2,400 media workers across southern Ontario, including the Globe and Mail, Metroland papers and 14 Postmedia daily newspapers.